Swords!

My Swords

Here are several swords from my collection. None of these are actual antiques, just replicas. But most are sharp, at least. As we go from left to right, we see:

A no-dachi, 4'-9" long. Essentially a big katana, designed to be used by samurai on horseback to hack on mounted opponents, and mow down peasants. They served roughly the same purpose as lances for European knights.
A British artilleryman's sword, modelled closely after a Roman gladius. The sole purpose of this particular sword is to rise and drop to signal canoneers to ready and fire.
A Viking longsword. Big, heavy, and sharp. This is a one handed sword. I expect that the most common battle injury for a Viking was carpal tunnel syndrome.
A replica of a 14th century Highland claymore. This thing is a whopping 5'-9" long, and exceedingly heavy. I don't expect that the Scots went in for much fencing, if this is typical of their swords. Braveheart notwithstanding, these swords were generally only used to meet the initial charge when fighting against mounted forces. The strategy was generally to cripple or kill the horses and dismount their riders, and then mop up with daggers when the cavalry are struggling to stand against the weight of their armor. War's not so romantic, is it?
A tanto, katana, and wakazashi, in order from top to bottom. These are somewhat non-traditional replicas, in that they are wrapped in leather instead of the usual ray skin and cloth wrappings. Very strong, fast blades, and very sharp.